The Rat King Archives
Like A Bat Out Of Hell, Part II

Jack felt nauseated. The release of planar
energy was wreaking havoc with his environmental constants. Still, there didn't
seem to be any sense of dissolution... more a sense of... Weird. Jack couldn't
place it.

Finally the nausea stopped.

"What just happened?" Jack asked
Val.

"Tarrin closed the rift. I think he
made some sort of psionic power feedback or something. What am I telling you
this for, you're the mathematician."

Only two of the ancient Diari starships
were still functional. As the asteroid passed around the gas giant with all the
other debris they rocketed out on a trajectory towards Ataniel, the dead Diari
hands steering them inexorably towards their goal. They would reach Ataniel within
the week. They would set beacons on the rift in the Doomlands, and the asteroid
would move again.

Or would have.

Halfway between Jupiter and Saturn, a
spacecraft resembling a giant anime kitty cat pulled about. "Evil
Diarians!" cried a female voice over the com systems. The starship whose
visuals were still working showed a staticky image of a beautiful schoolgirl
with strangely swinging hair. "In the name of the moon, fighting for truth
and beauty, I will--punish you!"

Khyrisse stared blank-faced at Norn for a
moment. "The Diari is
irrelevant?"

A tingle rushed through her veins, and her
hands shook.

She gently pushed Skitch towards Ebreth.
"Look after Skitch for a moment, Ebreth, would you please?" she said,
very quietly. "Flicker, do you
need her alive?" Khyrisse asked in Elven, in a voice trembling with rage.
The long, thin muscles in her forearms were twitching with the need to lock her
hands around Norna's throat.

Val stepped in front of Khyrisse. "I
think it would be best if you left on your errand now, Valkyrie." She said
it without malice or challenge. "I understand that you have an important
task, and little time." Norna opened her mouth to say something biting,
and found that she agreed with everything Valende had said. "Right,"
Norn glared. "Mageson, get the horses."

Ebreth put his hand gently on the nape of
Khyrisse's neck. "Khyrisse," he said. "Maybe he fell into Hell
or something. Maybe we can rescue him when we rescue Cori." She nodded
gratefully, and touched his hand. Flicker frowned. "Khyrisse," said
Flicker, in Elvish, "you aren't involved with Tor, are you?"

Flicker looked around at all of them and
switched to Impish. "Just be careful," he said, hoping his strong demonic
accent wasn't too hard for her to parse. "He has been an excellent liar in
the past, and you--you know the type."

Khyrisse did, and she didn't need to be
reminded of it, especially in Impish. "I'm a big girl now," she said,
in Dalen. "And I can take care of myself."

"Why was Kardia Blackfeather
traveling with you, anyway?" said Flicker.

Flicker's facial expressions were so
subtle that Khyrisse couldn't tell if he was changing the subject or not.
"Because I'm stupid," she sighed.

"It is not a being of magick, but it
is magickally animated," Lovecraft continued. From beneath his cloak he
pulled an antediluvian tome with a stylized L in a skull. Lovecraft referred to
it as he spoke. "What you have
found, according to the Fourth Necrology, is something briefly referred to as
the 'Paris Equation'."

"This is against our pact,
Orion!" Dominator shouted. "My service is almost over!"

"Then I lose very little," Orion
said. "She's yours, Lovecraft."

"Like hell I--"

Lovecraft had pulled from his cloak a
small mayonnaise jar that he opened. Green smoke rose from it and surrounded
Dominator's head. There was a hissing sound as dark and arcane marks were
seared on her face. When the smoke subsided and returned to the jar, Dominator
gazed forward vacantly.

"Pleasure doing business with you,
alien," Doctor Lovecraft cackled. He pulled a 5 1/4 inch floppy disk out
of his cloak and tossed it on the floor in front of Orion. "Sorry, but I
haven't upgraded yet." With that,
he turned and strode back into the turbolift. Dominator followed lifelessly.

"Hey!" Warp yelled from the
screen. "I know you're still there! Don't think that by ignoring me I'm
going to go away! Hello? Hello? Jeez, at least put some hold music on or
something..."

Character(s):
Khyrisse and the Rat PackAuthor:
Kristin L.K. AndersenStoryline:
Even the Rat Thinks Norna's a BitchTitle
of Post: Shelving the Rant for Later (With Difficulty)

Khyrisse spun around and started back for
her abused Carriage, seething. The Rat leapt for the safety of Jack's shoulder,
instead. "What is wrong with him?" she demanded of no one. "Why
is he following that bitch?!"

"Probably because she can break him
in half," Ebreth said, looking at the departing figures of Norna and
Flicker. "In the same circumstances, what would you do?"

Khyrisse didn't even slow down. "Spit
in her face and die free."

Skitch ran to catch up and shoved his hand
into hers with a fierce gesture.
"I'm with you!" He paused, as Khyrisse adjusted her pace for
his legs. "Khyri, Tarrin isn't..."

Khyrisse was quiet for a moment, and her
pace slowed drastically. "I don't know, Skitch. I think he might be. If he
isn't, we'll rescue him, I promise." She glanced back over her shoulder
and stopped, seeing that they'd outdistanced everyone. She squeezed Skitch's
hand gently and got herself under control while Skitch faced away from the Rat
Pack and scrubbed at his eyes.

"Okay. All right. I'm sorry for
flipping out," she said, once everyone had caught up. "But there are
a couple things that need taking care of before we go anywhere. We've lost four
members of the group now, and I'm not having it happen again," she said
firmly. " Jack, I think you need to talk to the Rat and ask him what he
thinks we should do next. Fred, do you want to tell us who the King of Kings
is, and why we need to kill him? I don't think we ever got to that part.
Those'll do for starters."

Character(s):
Jack and the Rat (why does that sound like a seventies sitcom?)Author:
Douglass BarreStoryline:
Rat Kings: What Next?Title
of Post: Of Rats And Men

Jack shrugged. "The Rat and I already
talked about this. Whatever direction that he got indicating that we needed to
go to Rimbor City is still unfulfilled. I was thinking about this the other
day... I'm wondering if Tarrin's quest wasn't some sort of detour, or delaying
tactic... I mean, we never did accomplish anything on Rimbor. Except for
hooking up with Cori, I guess, but she's, uh, in Hell right now."

"Maybe with Tarrin!" Skitch
cried.

"I'd like to hear ideas that don't
include going to Hell," Khyrisse sighed.

"Well, I think we missed something in
Rimbor," Jack offered.

"So this was a big detour that only
cost us four people?" Ariath asked. "I'd
hate to see what actually progressing on our mission--whatever it is--would do
to us."

"Wiiiiiiilbur, tell them we have to
kill the King of Kiiiiiiiiiings, Wiiiiiiilbur."

"Fred says--"

"I heard Fred, Skitch," Khyrisse
said, creasing her brows.

"Look, I just signed up on this to
get some experience under my belt," Ariath said. Vas blushed. "I go
where Khyrisse wants."

"Hell or Rimbor," Jack said.
"Those, uh, seem like the most likely to me."
He paused. "But that's, uh, just
me."

The rat rubbed his paws together and
licked them.

"I think he seconds that," Jack
offered, trying to put the responsibility on the party leader.

"I do not want to go to Hell,"
Ariath said. "I vote either we hit Rimbor again or else we adventure
someplace nice like Tobrinel. I hear there are still vampires there."

"The King of Kings has a
plaaaaaaaaan. We broke the chaiiiiiiiin. Now his rift can't come from outer
spaaaaaaaace. But we still have to kiiiiiiiiiilll him before he can get his
siiiiiiiiigils finished."

Ebreth looked at the horse and looked at
the carriage. "Fred is not going to fit in the carriage."

"I haaaaaaaaaate being a
hoooooooooorse."

Character(s):
Lilith and Geryon; Ebreth TorAuthor:
Laura RedishStoryline:
Counting The MissingTitle
of Post: Luckily, We Have A Mathematician

Geryon tossed the dossier at Lilith.
"We lost five souls through that portal."

Lilith narrowed her eyes. "So that
puts us out seventeen."

"Sixteen," corrected Geryon.
"We got Mr. Blackfeather back."

"Oh, yes," said Lilith.
"Sixteen then." She paused. "They'll be back," she said.
"People don't leave Hell. They will die again. And when they do." She
stood up. "I will make an example of them that will strike terror into the
other damned souls for generations to come."

***

5'>

Ebreth counted on his fingers.
"Jack?" He said. "Cori, Pieret, and Tarrin. Isn't that
three?"